Raid Drive?

Pardon this basic question but couldn't find an answer in my searches:
Is a Raid drive better for video editing that a non Raid drive? I've used both. The only drive I've had trouble with is a Lacie Raid drive (two drives linked together in one housing.) Goes without saying that I'm after the biggest I can afford and a Firewire connection. BTW I can't believe that you can get a Terrabyte drive for around $200-300. Why, I remember back in the day....

DK

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BTW I can't believe that you can get a Terrabyte drive for around $200-300.

You know...been hearing a lot about these new-fangled TB drives...and I'll pass. There's an old saying: The bigger they are - the harder they fall. The more stuff you store on these mammoth drives when they go down (and they WILL go down sooner or later), the more precious work you lose. I would cap my RAID at 2 TB at RAID 5 (protected).

You will know what I mean when you have gone through the pain of losing a month's worth of work.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I've noticed the cheaper TB drives are USB. What I'm not sure about is if they are Raid drives or not. Have to investigate that more. I suppose with anything if you buy a big drive you better buy two...one to back up the first on.
DK

Well...if you buy a drive to backup another drive...then it's not a RAID. RAIDs write to multiple drives simultaneously. You need the proper RAID configuration if you want protection. You can go RAID "0" and fly by the seat of your pants...cause if you lose a drive, you lose the whole array. Here's some knowledge for ya:

[en.wikipedia.org]

Scroll down & see the different configs & how they work.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

The question of a single volume or a RAID'ed volume that is Firewire connected is moot.

You need a data bus that can sustain transfers that a RAID can supply. While there are RAID 0 with 2 internal drives available, the Firewire connection almost invalidates the value of a 2 stripe RAID.

""BTW I can't believe that you can get a Terrabyte drive for around $200-300""

With 500 GB drives hitting near $60.00 each it is not a major feat to sell a two 500 GB drive RAID for $200.00. Single 1TB drives are now going for under $200.00.

"the Firewire connection almost invalidates the value of a 2 stripe RAID. "

are you sure about that?
i'm not when it comes to FW800.

i'm pretty sure that my "2-drives-in-one-box" FW800 drives are faster than my "1-drive-in-the-box" FW800 drives.

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The question of a single volume or a RAID'ed volume that is Firewire connected is moot.

Ummm...Nick's right...Firewire800 has been moving data pretty nicely from my external RAID "0" 2-drive units for years (try capturing & playing Uncompressed 10-Bit SD from a single drive unit). Not sure what you mean by this at all. Please explain "the Firewire connection almost invalidates the value of a 2 stripe RAID."

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

>I would cap my RAID at 2 TB at RAID 5 (protected).

I did work off a 3TB RAID 5 on fibre optic.. No issues with SD Uncompressed captures/playback/export.



www.strypesinpost.com

I didn't say there would be issues, G...just me being cautious. I would rather not have the temptation of a larger array to pile more & more work on to it. When you get hundreds of gigs it is a daunting task to start backing up. Also if you read Ben's thread about storing HDDs for backup...that's not exactly safe so the backup media becomes an issue.

Bigger drives = bigger concerns IMHO.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

[store.apple.com]

Can't imagine how to work in HD (and tapeless formats) without at least 2 TBs and one of these for back up... It's 800 gigs a tape, reliable storage (tape will never fail on start up). The only issue is the drive cost, LTO 3s may be cheaper but you only get 400 gigs a tape.

You see, if someone shoots DvcproHD 1080i to Firestore in .mxfs, I'm likely to get slightly over 100 gigs of footage per day. Convert that to mov, and i'll have around 200 gigs of footage. In 1 week of shoot, and a TB goes faster than a Beckham freekick (or do we use the term "in the blink of an eye". No way can I even think of backing them up to DVDs.



www.strypesinpost.com